November 1933 Seoul attack

The November 1933 Seoul attack occurred on 7 November 1933 when Korean independence movement fighters attempted to assassinate Japanese general Kawaguchi Mamoru and pro-Japanese businessman Kang In-guk at a gas station in Seoul, Korea.

The would-be assassins were Captain Ahn Okyun and her comrades Hwang Duk-sam and Chu Sang-ok, and they were assigned the mission by the top command of the movement, namely from Kim Koo and Kim Won-bong. Their plan was to sap the oil from the targets' vehicle as they drove to the train station, from which the targets would take the train to one of Kang's aircraft factories for an inspection. With the gas gone, the vehicle would be forced to replenish its gas at a nearby gas station; the Imperial Japanese Army guards were ordered to remain at their posts, so the fighters would only have to face the targets and their bodyguards. Hwang would distract the guards by blowing up a nearby car, while Chu pumped the gas, keeping the targets in the sights of Ahn, the sniper.

Unfortunately, the Korean Independence Army double agent Yem Sek-jin relayed these plans to the Japanese, and he also hired the assassins Hawaii Pistol and The Buddy to kill the Korean freedom fighters, who he ironically claimed were Japanese spies. Hawaii Pistol succeeded in shooting Chu, who survived the gunshots, but disappeared; nevertheless, Chu could not take part in the plot. The Korean sympathizer Kimura, a Japanese bartender who supported the independence movement, volunteered to take over Chu's role in pumping the gas.

The plan was again ruined when Lieutenant Kawaguchi - the general's son - suggested that Kawaguchi and Kang take a different car, as they had decided to ignore the warning to cancel their plans. The resistance took up their positions near the gas station, with Hwang pretending to be a mailman, Kimura pretending to be a gas station employee, and Ahn taking up a sniping position. Ahn sensed that something was wrong when Kimura did not move away from a vehicle (with the same make as the original target vehicle) when it pulled up to the pump, and Kimura later shouted that the targets had changed cars, and pointed to the correct one. The Japanese were alerted, and just as they prepared to react, Hwang threw grenades under a parked car, destroying it. Ahn and Hwang killed several Japanese soldiers, but they succeeded only in inflicting minor wounds on General Kawaguchi, with Ahn firing on the vehicle from a distance with a Sten gun. Kimura and Hwang then took over a small car and crashed it into the target vehicle at a shop, intending to kill the targets. However, they were soon surrounded by Japanese soldiers, and Kimura was shot dead inside of his vehicle. Hwang jumped onto the back of the target vehicle and primed two grenades, but he was shot by the occupants of the vehicle, and he fell back into the store, where he was blown up by his own grenades. Ahn was forced to displace, as her comrades were dead. She was shot in the arm and arrested, as was the Hawaii Pistol, who was caught at the scene trying to kill her. The two would later be freed by The Buddy, and they would ultimately team up and carry out the Seoul wedding shootout the next day.